Rogers Communications and Radio Nord seem poised to save Quebec's troubled TQS television network from bankruptcy, according to newspaper reports.

Rogers is set to take over the network's Montreal and Quebec City stations, while Radio Nord is said to be interested in picking up the network's remaining regional affiliates, according to a story published in Montreal newspaper La Presse Tuesday.

Radio Nord already manages TQS stations in the Outaouais and in Abitibi-Temiscamingue but denied the newspaper's report late Monday. Rogers refused to comment in public.

As many as nine potential buyers have shown interest in the network, but no one had made a formal offer yet as of Monday at 5 p.m., Montreal lawyer Jean Fontaine said.

But the newspaper is reporting that majority and minority shareholders Cogeco Inc. and CTVglobemedia have accepted an offer from Rogers and Radio Nord.

TQS is due in court Thursday to ask for an extension on its creditor protection unless a new buyer makes an offer.

The network stunned Quebec's media industry when it announced in December it had obtained court-ordered protection from creditors as the threat of bankruptcy loomed. 

The No. 3-rated Quebec network is owned 60 per cent by cable operator Cogeco and 40 per cent by CTVglobemedia.

Board chairman Louis Audet blamed the province's fractured advertising market, Radio-Canada's "commercial" ventures and the CRTC for the failure of TQS to thrive. 

The self-proclaimed "mouton noir," or black sheep of television, employs about 600 people and is best-known for its flagship reality show Loft Story.

TQS has consistently been rated third behind TVA and Radio-Canada in Quebec's small but loyal television market.

Rogers Communication is one of Canada's telecommunications giants.

Radio Nord owns 16 radio and two television stations in Quebec. Cogeco became the majority shareholder in TQS in 2000.

With files from the Canadian Press